OTG’s Largest Operation: War in Ukraine


“From the thunder of artillery to the roar of fighter jets and air-raid sirens warning of incoming Russian attacks, the sounds of war are almost inescapable in Ukraine. But for thousands of Ukrainians who are Deaf or Hard-of-hearing, those danger signals just don't exist. That's why a U.S-based nonprofit called Off-The-Grid Missions is now providing the Deaf Community with tools to stay safe and alert. The group also provides evacuations run exclusively by people who are deaf or hard of hearing.”

– USA TODAY


In Ukraine we executed a full-scale operation

leading the largest disaster-response mission for Deaf and Hard-of-hearing people which began when the Russians invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022. Here is a summary of the joints of this major operation:

Rescuing & Evacuating Deaf Families Out of Ukraine

For the first six months of the war when the borders were open to refugees, we focused heavily on evacuations by building a network of interconnected systems from both inside and outside of Ukraine. We funded evacuations remotely, as well as, deployed ground missions navigating through all regions of Ukraine to bring Deaf families safely across the border. Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe (second to Russia), so our team took days to journey through safe routes which included sheltering for a night at refugee shelters.

Our biggest challenge is communication. Deaf people get information last and in addition to being last to receive the help, they can easily be manipulated by anyone around them. So while it is indeed unusual that our team of Deaf drivers would be the ones rescuing Deaf families out of active war zones (as our team does not hear the shelling, gunfire, air raid warnings, etc.), it is actually the only promising way we could efficiently and effectively evacuate Deaf families; there is an immediate sense of trust that comes with being rescued by a Deaf/signing person which is in contrast to the fear associated to the risk of a non-Deaf person being a Russian guised as humanitarian to ship them off to the concentration camps.

Separately, we mentored, funded, and managed Deaf humanitarian-turned-civilians throughout the country and on the bordering countries so that they could secure Deaf refugees with communication access, food, water, and shelter.

Emergency Relief

A tribute to The Sapega Foundation, in partnership with our cause to save Deaf families during the War in Ukraine.

With our extensive disaster-response network and experience, we managed to stay ahead of the impacts of the war. We knew there would be direct attacks on Ukraine’s water supply and power grid so we began positioning high-grade water filtration systems and solar lights with mobile chargers throughout Ukraine. As a proactive measure, we made sure to include regions of the country that were not (yet) impacted by the shelling. Then, six months after we deployed longterm aid, Russia initiated a $5 billion campaign to send long-range missiles in an effort to leave the country without power (light, heat, etc). As the year comes to an end and during the coldest time of the year, Russia has continued to damage power facilities leaving key regions of Ukraine with limited electricity. Deaf Ukrainians are currently relying on our resources to survive.

We also solicited for and transported over 5 tons of food, hygiene supplies, reusable period pads and diapers (for babies and adults) from as far as England, over Europe and eventually into Ukraine. As the year comes to an end, we continue to position and direct incoming emergency relief to our hubs positioned throughout the country so that as aid comes in it can continue to be distributed directly to Deaf Ukrainians.

 

Tactical Strategies & More

We run an emergency remote hub of real-time danger zones, bomb shelters, and evacuation information for Deaf people surviving the war in Ukraine. By leveraging Sine-Pari’s elite leadership methods (a program developed by dedicated Special Operations, Special Forces, Interagency, and Intelligence Community veterans), we adapted to the unpredictable changes of the war and delivered tactical strategies across a number of NGOs, and Deaf and non-Deaf civilian-turned-humanitarians.


The challenges of life in a war-torn country are multi-faceted for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Communication is often difficult since they cannot hear the yells to leave the area or the gunfire. Off-The-Grid Missions is a nonprofit helping deaf and hard of hearing people in disasters around the world. NBC News’ Ellison Barber shares their story.